


Special Sunday Disco

by Burgie



Category: Star Stable Online
Genre: F/M, birthday fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-20
Updated: 2018-05-20
Packaged: 2019-05-09 09:29:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14713503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgie/pseuds/Burgie
Summary: James gives his girlfriend Willow a wonderful day for her birthday. Willow belongs to cheyennethepony on tumblr.





	Special Sunday Disco

Willow Crazytree, or just Willow to her friends, fixed up her gloves before she hefted up the wheelbarrow by its handles and began wheeling it over to the mucking heap corner. It smelled absolutely terrible, but the manure would make good fertiliser for the beautiful gardens around Fort Pinta. Besides, James Cloudmill, the owner of this place, paid well for the messy jobs, especially if it meant that he didn’t have to do them. Willow emptied the contents onto the mucking heap, trying to hold her breath as she did so, and then walked, panting, over to the hose where she could wash out the wheelbarrow and wash off the shovel.

That done, Willow mounted her pony and rode out of the stableyard to report in to her boyfriend.

“I’m done,” said Willow, dismounting to speak to him. James looked up from his phone, where he’d been playing some new app game.

“Really? Mucked the stalls and everything?” asked James, closing the app and putting his phone into his jeans pocket.

“Mm-hm,” Willow hummed in affirmation as she nodded. “Stalls mucked, horses fed, water troughs full, I even exercised some of the horses who hadn’t been taken out today.” There was a roster in the stables, listing the horses boarded there. The riders were supposed to sign on the roster when they brought out their horses, but Willow had found that, to her annoyance, many horses went without training. There was a girl who came by sometimes, but she was usually too busy training her own horses. That was fine, though, at least she trained her horses.

“Wow, you work fast,” said James with a laugh and smile. Willow smiled back at him, feeling warmed from the smile on his face and the affection in his voice. He still gave her butterflies, maybe it was true what they said about young love.

“Thanks,” said Willow, smiling at him. “I figured that you’d like a hand, you already have so much else to do.” She didn’t know how James did it, running a stable on top of running a popular tourist attraction, and so young, too. At least he had a lifeguard to help out on the beach now, but still, that was a lot of work for one so young. There was so much responsibility on those young shoulders that Willow never begrudged him his games. She, herself, felt some of that pressure, and she wasn’t running a stable, she just worked at the different stables and trained horses.

“And on your birthday, too, huh?” said James. Now, Willow grinned.

“You remembered!” said Willow.

“Of course I did,” said James. “I’m your boyfriend, it’s my job to remember these things.” Willow felt all warm and fuzzy inside, and she couldn’t help but hug James. James chuckled as he returned the hug, giving her a kiss on the cheek.

“I’m glad someone remembered,” said Willow when she finally pulled away. “I haven’t received any birthday messages or anything. Not even in the mail.” She’d been to Silverglade Village that morning to ask Derek, knowing that the mail in Jorvik was usually pretty quick, but his sad face had told her all that she’d needed to know. He had bought her a pastry, though, from Harold the baker. That had been very nice of him, and had given her the lift in her spirits that she’d needed to come here and work. She told James this now, to which James frowned. Part of Willow was delighted to see the jealousy written clearly on his face. He couldn’t have looked more obviously jealous if his eyes had turned green.

“I hope he wasn’t trying to swoop in on my girl,” said James. “I should get my sister to beat him up.”

“James,” said Willow with a laugh. “He was just being nice! Besides, I’m sure he has a girlfriend, or at least a girl that he’s interested in, and he’s way too old for me.”

“He’s not that much older than us,” said James. “But it’s okay, I know that you only have eyes for me.”

“Aww,” Willow cooed, blushing. “You’re right, I only like you.”

“I’m glad someone does,” said James, a sappy smile now replacing the jealous look. Willow leaned in and pecked him on the lips before blushing and looking away.

“I should get going, though,” said Willow. 

“Wait, I need to pay you first,” said James, reaching for his wallet. He got out the right amount of money, handing it to her.

“You don’t need to pay me,” said Willow, though she took the money anyway.

“Yes I do,” said James with a laugh. “It’s some law about not allowing loved ones to work for you. And it wouldn’t be fair.” Willow’s eyes widened in surprise, though, when James included a few Star Coins in his payment.

“James, you don’t pay wages in Star Coins,” said Willow, counting the shiny blue coins in her hand. “This is too much!”

“Oh, those aren’t for working,” said James, gesturing to the Star Coins. “That’s your birthday money.”

“What?” asked Willow, her heart beating a little faster in excitement. “Are you sure?” Her boyfriend’s greediness wasn’t just something people said about him to be mean, James was a greedy little hoarder when it came to his money. Willow knew that it came from his rather difficult upbringing, with little money and less to go around. For him to give out Star Coins was a huge deal.

“Yeah,” said James, nodding. “Head into Jorvik City or Jaharla, I’ve heard that all the girls shop there for horse gear.” Willow’s eyes shone with happiness and she flung her arms around James again, squealing with excitement.

“Thank you!” Willow squealed, jumping up and down a little. “I need to get some new tack anyway, and there are some really nice new clothes, or I could go to Greendale and buy a squirrel or buy a terrier here or a Mistfox in Dundull or…” The possibilities were endless, even though James hadn’t given her a huge amount. Not enough to buy a new horse, but definitely enough to buy something nice for herself.

“Well, have fun,” said James with a chuckle as she trailed off, her gaze vacant as she tried to think of what to spend her money on. “But come back here around six, okay? I have something special planned for us.”

“Ooh, okay, I’ll definitely be back, then,” said Willow, grinning. “See you tonight!” And, mounting her pony again, Willow rode into a paddock where her pony would be free to graze while she was in the city. There were already a few horses in there, waiting for their riders to return from Jorvik City. At least her pony would have company while she was gone.

Willow still remembered a time when the Jorvik City bus department had only two stops- Fort Pinta and the mall. But now, there had been a screen installed where tickets were purchased. Willow’s finger hovered over the screen for a moment as she thought about where she would go. The mall was an old favourite, but Governor’s Fall had Jaharla. There was nothing in Pier 13 except spooky stuff, so she had no interest in going there, but Aideen’s Plaza had a nice little clothing shop too and a café that she could have lunch at.

In the end, Willow thought of which places she most needed Star Coins for, and her mind was made up. With a smile, Willow tapped her finger on the Governor’s Fall section of the map before she headed down the aisle to find a seat.

Normally, Willow would have felt jealous of the other girls in Jorvik City, all hanging out with their friends at the ice cream parlour or running around the sidewalks or going shopping. But this time, Willow felt a sense of pride as she walked into Jaharla past the stares of the envious girls. She had money, and they did not.

Jaharla had some really nice tack, which Willow had seen when she’d first come here with Julie and Mandy, and now, finally, she had the chance to buy some of it. The shop assistant looked surprised when Willow set down her items (a nice new saddle and some leg wraps) on the counter.

“You’re here to buy?” asked the man behind the counter. Willow nodded, smiling and giggling at his befuddled expression. “Wow! Most people who come here just rant at me about the high prices or try to haggle me down.”

“Well, glad I could make your day,” said Willow, smiling at him. “This is a good place to spend birthday money. Well, birthday Star Coins.”

“Most people save them up for horses, I’ve heard,” said the man as he scanned and bagged her items.

“Well, yeah, but there’s just something really special about spending your birthday money on your actual birthday,” said Willow. “You know what I mean?”

“I do indeed,” said the man, nodding. He handed over the bag with her items. “That will be two hundred Star Coins.”

“Here you go,” said Willow, handing over the Star Coins. The man smiled as he counted them.

“Pleasure doing business with you,” said the man. Willow all but skipped out of the shop, very delighted with her purchases and very much looking forward to showing it off to the other riders (and, just quietly, rubbing it in the face of those snobby, mean girls who sometimes hung around).

But before she could return to Fort Pinta, Willow made one more stop. On the bus, she tapped on the Dundull stop, a stop that had only recently been added to the route. Apparently, there had been some spooky quarantine thing going on in Dundull until just recently, but now, the bus could once more stop in that town. It was just the place Willow needed to go next.

As she looked at the foxes, Willow ignored the logical part of her brain telling her that if she’d just waited a little longer, she could have saved up for a brand new horse to love and train, maybe one of the new Lusitanos. But Willow knew, as a red mistfox happily accepted tummy scratches, that she’d made the right choice.

“Woah,” said James when he saw Willow walk into Fort Pinta with a little red mistfox running at her heels. Willow giggled.

“I went birthday shopping,” said Willow.

“I heard those foxes are expensive,” said James. “Maybe I should get in on that business…” Willow laughed, not knowing whether or not James meant it.

“I hope I’m not back too late,” said Willow. She got her phone out of her pocket and found that it was almost six. She’d spent the entire day travelling or in Jorvik City or Dundull, but it had been a day well spent, in her opinion.

“You’re actually a bit early,” said James. “But that’s okay, I’m hungry now if you don’t mind an early dinner?”

“Not at all,” said Willow, holding her arm out. “Lead the way.” James chuckled and tried to puff out his chest as he escorted his lady across the cobblestones of Fort Pinta and over to the café area just outside the disco. There was already music playing, though the dancefloor was empty. It took Willow a few moments to realise what was so odd, though.

“Wait a minute,” said Willow. “Why is the disco on? It’s Sunday, and it’s not Jojo’s music playing.” The new pop star had recently come to Jorvik from America specifically to perform at the Fort Pinta disco for a few months, and she had a show on every half hour. James had been quite proud of himself for securing her.

“That’s the second part of your birthday present,” said James. “I opened the disco just for us, so we can go dance and have fun after dinner.”

“Aww, James,” Willow cooed. “You’re the sweetest!” 

“Heh, well, like I say, I’ve got a heart of gold,” said James. “Especially when my heart is involved.” He held out his glass as the security guard came over holding a bottle of soda.

“Soda?” asked the security guard, his voice unusually soft. His pup, Willow saw, was dressed in an adorable little doggy tux. She cooed over it.

“Yes please,” said James.

“Some for me too, please,” said Willow, holding out her glass that she found in front of her.

“It is the finest pop that you will ever find, quite possibly,” said the security guard over the fizz of the bubbles. “The expiration date is not until September, a rarity considering the fact that most bottles of soda expire in three months.”

“Ooh, thank you,” said Willow, sipping at her glass. The soda was nice and cool, and of course, sweet and bubbly. “It’s delicious.”

“Just let me know when you are ready to order,” said the security guard, and, with a bow, he walked away, leaving the two to talk.

After a dinner of fish and chips, James and Willow took to the dancefloor where they danced like foolish young teens in love. They fast-danced to the slow songs, and then slow-danced to the more upbeat ones. The whole time, Willow laughed and smiled, very much enjoying James’ company and the night as a whole. And of course, after all that dancing, there was cake served with ice cream, imported all the way from Leonardo’s. It was the perfect end to a perfect day.


End file.
